It's Guns vs. Butter (Again): How Do We Reconcile Expensive Cancer Treatments With The Need To Improve The Basics Of Cancer Care?

As we walk the halls and sit in the lectures at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, there's an elephant in the room. It is right there in front of us, but not many of us seem willing to talk about it. Fewer still are making any commitments to do something about it. So what is this ubiquitous juxtaposition that is right in front of us but we can't seem to see? It is the contrast between incredibly sophisticated science and computer data that will help us understand cancer and its treatment vs. the reality that we can't have medical records that really work. It is the fact that we have million dollar machines to treat cancer but we have tens of thousands of lives lost to cervical cancer in underdeveloped and underserved countries that could be saved with saved using vinegar. It is cancer care's version of the "guns vs. butter" debate of the 1960s. Yesterday there was a large plenary session where thousands of people from around the world sat and listened to the "top" abstracts presented to the assembled masses. These 5 papers represented what the meeting's scientific advisors thought were the best of the best, the ones with the most impact. There was also a major award lecture by Dr. Charles Sawyers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who discussed his research on understanding resistance to treatment in advanced prostate cancer. The paper that got the most audience reaction was a discussion of a cervical cancer screening program in India u...
Source: Dr. Len's Cancer Blog - Category: Cancer Authors: Tags: Access to care Breast Cancer Cancer Care Cervical Cancer Colon Cancer Early detection Prevention Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy Rectal Cancer Research Screening Tobacco Treatment Source Type: blogs